KERA’s Commitment to Serving and Representing Our North Texas Community
Public media belongs to you. All of you. KERA is committed to representing and celebrating our entire community.
We believe in diversity, equity , inclusion and belonging in all aspects of our organization, including our service to audiences, the makeup of our staff and the communities represented in our programming. This is a core priority that is infused in every action we take. As a public service, KERA holds a responsibility to engage the communities we reach equitably – to serve the underserved and create opportunities for those who have been overlooked.
Our goal is to provide a culture of belonging – on-air, online and in the halls of our facilities, and our interactions with the community – that includes diversity of ethnicity, race, gender and gender identity, people with disabilities, age, language, sexual orientation and socioeconomic background, all of which are important to our work.
OUR GOALS
In pursuit of its commitment to our North Texas Community, KERA has established the following goals:
– For all audiences to find representation of their culture and identity in KERA’s programming.
– For KERA’s staff to reflect the diversity of the community it serves – including in positions of leadership.
– For KERA’s Board of Directors and Community Advisory Board to include representation that expresses our commitment to our community.
– For KERA’s news and public affairs content to include a diversity of experiences, identities, and perspectives – and for this content to reflect equitable and inclusive representation of the voices it amplifies.
– For KERA to build and maintain strong, engaged relationships with communities across North Texas that rely on programming that is free, educational, and accessible to all.
– For KERA to cultivate and actively maintain a sense of belonging throughout the organization.
How we live up to our commitment…
Representation in KERA’s Content
KERA is committed reflecting the communities we serve in the content we provide. Effective storytelling relies on a wide variety of experiences on both sides of the microphone and throughout our digital platforms. We are dedicated to being more participatory in terms of who is doing the storytelling. We are committed to amplifying the voices of communities that have been historically marginalized and misrepresented. This includes active steps towards reaching audiences we haven’t engaged with before through different platforms which includes performing multicultural audience research to inform programming and event choices. We strive to earn trust by representing our communities authentically and elevating stories throughout the region we serve.
We also aim to produce original multi-media content that is educational, information and “in the moment” to meet our North Texas communities where they are – about the issues they care most about.
For example …
KERA’s partnership with The Dallas Morning News, Arts Access, is a journalism initiative with the aim of expanding local arts coverage through the lens of access and equity. Through this partnership, KERA and The Dallas Morning News provide more coverage for often-overlooked arts organizations.
KXT is also actively reaching new audiences through the launch of its Public Music Meetings. These ongoing public meetings invite listeners to meet with KXT hosts across North Texas and vote on new music they want to see added to KXT’s playlists. KXT has held Public Music Meetings in Plano, Richardson, Fort Worth, Dallas and Denton and continues to expand across North Texas.
KERA’s Education Team also continues to grow as a trusted partner for families, students, educators and programs across North Texas. The Education Team piloted its first Learning Neighborhood through the Ready to Learn Initiative that provides Community Learning workshops in an under-served community to advance critical early learning skills for children ages 2-8. They launched professional development opportunities for educators and librarians through PBS LearningMedia and held 46 Family & Community Learning Workshops and events across North Texas. KERA’s Be My Neighbor Day welcomed over 3,500 parents and kids to learn about the importance of giving back to the community.
KERA News has expanded its team and services to be more reflective of the entirety of North Texas, including adding Accountability Reporters in Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington. KERA also acquired The Denton Record-Chronicle, Denton County’s primary source of local news, and continues to sustain and grow that essential news source. In addition to Arts Access, KERA is also the lead station of The Texas Newsroom — a statewide collaboration between Texas public radio stations. Together, these stations share reporting between one another and also with NPR — providing both North Texas and the country with more Texas stories from Texan perspectives.
You can see more of KERA’s programming and commitment to our community in our 2023 LCSR Report and Member Impact Report.
Reflecting the Community
KERA believes having a staff that is reflective of the communities we serve is crucial to fulfilling our mission to serve North Texans with public television, radio and multimedia resources that educate, engage, inspire, and entertain. KERA’s workforce has a wealth of diversity in race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, age, ability, and socio-economic status. KERA is an equal opportunity employer and is dedicated to building a culturally and ethnically diverse staff and creating a working environment that promotes racial equity and inclusiveness.
KERA’s staff and governance metrics as of June 30, 2024
KERA’s staff and governance reflect our commitment to diversity in all its forms. We employ a wide variety of people who reflect both the communities we serve and our nation.
Our employee population has remained steady with 137 full-time employees in June 2024 which reflects the North Texas community. In 2024, 42% of KERA’s employees identified as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and 61% of KERA’s employees identified as female with 1% identifying as nonbinary. Our employees are multigenerational and range from ages 19 to 74.
The senior team consists of 10 members to meet the individual demands of the KERA employee population. In 2024, 40% of the senior team identified as BIPOC and 70% identified as female.
KERA’s Board of Directors and our Community Advisory Board also reflect the North Texas community. KERA’s Board of Directors is comprised of 48 voting members, 44% of whom identify as women and 38% of whom are BIPOC. KERA’s Community Advisory Board (CAB) has 53 members in 2024, 59% of whom identify as women and 72% as BIPOC. Both KERA’s Board of Directors and CAB members are multigenerational and represent a variety of professional and life experiences.
DEIB Council
KERA maintains an internal DEIB Council tasked with advancing our goals in this area and providing ongoing accountability. The council includes employees across multiple departments. Senior managers do not serve as DEI Council members to encourage open dialogue and provide leadership opportunities for staff.
Hiring and HR Procedures
We are committed to providing employment and promotion opportunities to individuals of all backgrounds, experiences, and identities. This includes focused recruitment in diverse spaces to identify talented candidates who may not be represented in legacy applicant pools. Our hiring processes are structured to include diverse representation on hiring panels. We also believe in supporting long-term career development to prepare diverse talent for leadership roles within the organization.
Further, KERA offers paid internship and fellowship opportunities to cultivate the next generation of public media professionals. We are committed to equity and transparency in compensation among our staff.
More information about our employment recruitment sources and efforts can be found in our annual FCC EEO Recruitment Report.
Public Media for All
We are proud to support the mission of Public Media for All, a nationwide coalition of public media workers, led by people of color. This initiative unites KERA with stations that share these values and are committed to specific actions. Learn more.
Belonging at KERA
KERA strives to create an environment of diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging that shapes how work gets accomplished with everyone’s contribution.
In FY2023 we formally integrated belonging into our culture to ensure that everyone is included in all aspects of the workplace. We continue to actively do this now in FY2025 by:
- Sharing a weekly People and Culture newsletter
- Using our intranet to streamline internal communications
- Hosting monthly All Staff meetings and an annual Team Appreciation Day
- Developing new and evolving onboarding and hiring procedures
- Putting a hard focus on belonging while working on an ambitious capital project
- Working intentionally to coach and upskill our managers
- Living into our Guiding Principles – which established the framework for how all employees work together to fulfill KERA’s mission. These principles include seeking growth organizationally and individually, effective collaboration, and welcoming new opportunities to grow and succeed working together.
UPDATED SEPTEMBER 30, 2024
Photo: Tim Mossholder
